Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Joe Nicolosi
Most short filmmakers have a hard time getting people to watch their work. Joe Nicolosi has had the opposite problem. His filmmaking career recently took off because of the playfully inventive and technically accomplished bumpers he wrote and directed for the SXSW Film Festival. Because they play in front of every film, his shorts were guaranteed audiences as they screened again… and again… and again. “There is a certain responsibility in making something that people will watch as many as 30 times,” Nicolosi admits. “So I try to cram these pieces full of details so there will always be new […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 17, 2011 -
Miranda July @IFC Center and On the Beach
“Some people look more like themselves with the photo filters on,” wrote one person on my Instagram. Snapped last night in back of the IFC Center, where I moderated Miranda July’s talk on the early short films of Jane Campion. And, at this link, July dancing on the beach in front of Sam Taylor-Wood’s camera. (Unfortunately, this New York Times video is not embeddable.) It’s a funny clip when you see the photo of Miranda on the cover of this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. July’s new feature, The Future, opens in two weeks at the IFC Center, and it […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 15, 2011 -
JASON BYRNE COVERS SOUTHERN SUDAN INDEPENDENCE
A 2010 25 New Face, filmmaker Jason Byrne has been based in Tanzania, where he’s an Audio-Visual Archivist for the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He recently sent an email to his list about a new project, and, with permission, I’m reposting it here. Over the weekend, I was in Southern Sudan to witness the country’s independence. I made a film within the celebration, which included two actors. One actor plays the “North” and one actor plays the “South.” The history of the two countries will be captured through the telling of the characters experiences. Here are some images […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 15, 2011 -
KICKSTARTER: MATT PORTERFIELD’S “I USED TO BE DARKER”
What do you do when your first Kickstarter campaign, which included a heartfelt personal direct-address video, has been cited as one of the best, and most successful, indie film ventures on the crowdfunding site? Well, you mix it up a bit for the next one. Putty Hill director Matt Porterfield is raising money for the production of his new feature, I Used to be Darker, which is shooting in three weeks. It’s a drama about marriage and divorce, and it’s set within the Baltimore music industry. Here’s the synopsis: When Taryn, a Northern Irish runaway, finds herself pregnant in Ocean […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 15, 2011 -
SCHAMUS, ZIZEK (AND ADORNO) IN RAMALLAH
James Schamus — screenwriter, professor and Focus Features CEO — travelled to Ramallah last month with philosopher Slavoj Zizek to give a series of talks to young filmmakers and students, including those from the Jenin Freedom Theater. At Guernica, Schamus writes about the event, including his use of Adorno as a teaching tool and a visit to a rehearsal of the Freedom Theater’s upcoming open-air production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Here’s Schamus’s opening for the piece, titled “How I Spent My Summer Vacation, or Adorno in Ramallah.” A Friday afternoon in the village of Bil’in is quite an experience, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 15, 2011 -
ECONOMIST FILM PROJECT LAUNCHES WEBSITE
The Economist Film Project, which I wrote about previously in this interview with editorial director Gideon Lichfeld, has just launched its website. At the site, viewers can watch the short documentary excerpts that appear via the project on the PBS News Hour. For example, embedded below is the debut offering, Dawn Sinclair Shapiro’s The Edge of Joy, about maternal healthcare in Nigeria. Also up on the site now are excerpts from Robin Hessman’s My Perestroika, N.C. Heikin’s Kimjongilia, and Adam Wakeling’s Up in Smoke. The website follows a Variety article on The Economist Film Project, which states that it’s now […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 14, 2011 -
Polish Brothers Release Successful No-Budget Movie On iTunes
From Steve Pond at The Wrap comes a piece on the Polish Brothers’ latest, a French-shot no-budget romance called For Lover’s Only, which was made with a production budget of, the article says, “zero,” and has already made $200,000 on iTunes. It stars Mark Polish and Stana Katic (Detective Kate Beckett on ABC’s Castle), and it was shot on a Canon 5D, with the filmmakers posing as tourists, not worrying about location fees, and, writes Pond, “They even got the film classified as an experimental film by the Screen Actors Guild, which meant they didn’t have to pay Katic, who […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 13, 2011 -
TRAILER WATCH: SWANBERG AND WINGARD’S “AUTOEROTIC”
In recent months, Joe Swanberg has been making movies. A lot of movies. I don’t know how many, but I think his unreleased films could outnumber other filmmakers’ back catalogs. And, I think he’s thinking of interesting new ways to get them out. Hopefully there will be more news on that front soon, but in the meantime, here, via Indiewire, is the trailer (NSFW, by the way) for Autoerotic, his latest film premiering via IFC Midnight. The ensemble cast features the talented Kate Lyn Sheil (Green), and the film is co-directed by Adam Wingard. According to IFC Midnight: Autoerotic follows […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 12, 2011 -
HOW TO CREATE WORD OF MOUTH (AND PROMOTE “THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER”
I’m posting an email I received from producer Adele Romanski here (with permission) for a couple of reasons. The first is that I completely endorse the message, which is trying to get everyone to go see David Robert Mitchell’s Myth of the American Sleepover (pictured) when it opens July 22. The film is a gem — visual, expressive and fresh, with the screen loving its young actors. Mitchell gently guides his ensemble tale of young summertime love and impending adulthood through, in places, the intimate crevices of a European art film without any trace of pretension. The film has an […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 11, 2011 -
MICHAEL RAPAPORT AND MALIK TAYLOR ON “BEATS, RHYMES AND LIFE”
Opening today is Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest. Actor and longtime fan Michael Rapaport stepped behind the camera to both introduce a new audience to the seminal hip hop group but also to answer an aficionado’s longtime questions. Here’s a short interview filmed at Sundance, 2011. Photographed by Jamie Stuart, edited by Daniel James Scott, music by T. Griffin.
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2011
